Electric railway.



No. 659,550. Patented Dot. 9, |900.

J. n. noERTsoN. ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

(Applicltion Med Jan. 31, 1900A (l0 ldeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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C@ i@ @t @E /N VENTOH No. 659,550.- Patanted out. 9, 900.

J. n. ROBERTSON.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

(Application led Jan. 31, 1900.!

(In lulu.) 2 Sheets-Shut 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES D. ROBERTSON, OF LA SALLE, ILLINOIS.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 659,550, dated October 9, 1900.

Application iled January 3l, 1900. Serial No. 3,453. iNo model.)

To all whom t naa/y concern,.-

Be it known that I, JAMES D. ROBERTSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of La Salle, in the county ot' La Salle and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Electric Railway, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in electric railways, in which an electric supplyconductor is arranged in a conduit or between the track-rails; and the object is to provide an electric railway that shall be comparatively cheap to construct and maintain in order and having in it a conductor for a heating medium to prevent an accumulation of snow or ice around the distributing rails or cables that may be arranged in a system, and, further, to so arrange the heat-conductor that it also may be used as a conductor to supply electricity to a car-motor.

I will describe an electric railway embodying my invention and then point out the novel features in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure lis a perspective view of an electric railway embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a cross-section showinga slight modification. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic View of the system. Fig. 5 is a side view showing the connections of the conducting-pipe sections, and Fig. G shows a manner of connecting theheat-supply with the heat-conducting pipe when said pipe is also used as a conductor for electricity.

Referring to the drawings, l designates the ordinary track-rails, secured to the cross-ties 2 in the usual manner. Secured to the ties 2 at the inner side and adjacent to the rails l are string pieces 8, consisting of suitable metal, and each string-piece has a flange portion to bear upon the ties and through which fastening-bolts may pass or with which spikes may engage. At the upper portion of each strin g-piece is an inwardly-extended flange 4.

Arranged centrally between the track-rails stringers being placed apart to permit the entrance of a trolley or collecting device.

Supported on the string-pieces 3 and intermediate string-pieces 5 are bed-plates 7, consisting of metal of sufiicient thickness t0 bear the weight of traflic that may be placed upon them. These plates engage with the ange portions 4 and 6, and they are further supported between the string-pieces by metal posts 7, mounted on the cross-ties and supporting on their upper ends supporti ng-plates 8, which extend longitudinally ot' the track and engage against the under sides of the plates 7. The space between the outer stringpieces and intermediate string-pieces maybe utilized as conduits for cables 9, designed to conduct electricity for anydesired purposesuch as for running motors in factories, heat ing purposes, or the like-and these spaces may also be utilized for wires 10, as shown in Fig. 3, for conducting telegraph or telephone messages. These wires lO are shown as supported on insulators mounted on brackets eX- tended inward from the cuter string-pieces 3. The space between the upward ly-extended portions of the string-pieces 5 is utilized as a conduit for a conductor or conductors for a heating medium and electricity. In Figs. l and 2 I have shown a pipe ll, which may be made of any suitable metal, as extended through this conduit. This'pipe is designed to convey a heating medium-such, for instance, as steam-which may be suppled from a powerhouse and also from any other points or stations along the road. In Fig. 4 I have shown the pipe 1l as connected to a steamboiler l2 by means of a pipe 13, having a iieXible connection 14, with an elbow l5, (shown in Fig. 6,) which communicates with the pipe 1l at the under side. By thus connecting` the pipe 13 with the pipe ll asmooth continuous surface is lett on the upper side, so that there will be no obstructions to the collector' car ried by a car running over the same, while the pipe is used as aconductor for electricity. The supply-pipe 13 will be provided with a suitable valve 16, and the elbow l5 is shown as having a valve-controlled waste-pipe 17, which may lead to a sewer and through which water of condensation collecting in the elbow may discharge. The conducting-pipe 11 is IOO 'flexible joint l).

necled to a down wardly-turned portion 2O of l made in sections of suitable lengths, and to avoid obstructions on the top cert-ain of the sections are connected by an exterior screwthread 18, formed ou the reduced portion oli' one of the sections and engaging an interior screw-thread on the other section.

To provide for the contraction and expansion of the'pipe and to prevent its buckling or movement out of position, at certain intervals I connect sections ot' the pipe by a 'lhis liexible joint is conone pipe-section and to a downwardly-turned portion 2l ot' an adjacent section. This portion 2l has a horizontal extension 22, towhich the joint 19 is directly connected, and with this part 22 a valve controlled discharge-pipe 23 connects. This pipe 23 may lead to a sewer, and it is designed to discharge water of condensation that may collect. To provide a continuous passage between the pipesections at this portion, a transversely-cu rved bridge-piece 2:1- is rigidly connected to one of the pipe-sections and is adapted to slide on the other section during the expansion or contraction of the pipe.

The pipe in Fig. lis shown as resting on rollers 25, consisting otl insulating material, such as porcelain or the like. In Fig. 3, however, a heating-pipe 26 rests on blocks 27, of insulating material, attached tothe ties. This pipe 26 in this example of my improvement is for heating purposes only, and therefore I provide above the same a conducting-wire 2S, supported on rods 29, attached to the vertical portions of the string-pieces 5, but insulated therefrom. It will be noted that the vertical walls of the string-pieces 5 are provided with openings 30, through which heat may pass to the spaces below the plates 7 for the purpose ot preventing the formation of ice in the said spaces.

The operating-current, as shown in Fig. et, is supplied to the conductor within the conduit from a generator 3l through a wire 32, and the return current after passing through the motor of a caris taken through one of the rails and a wire 53 to the generator.

It will be noted that the plates 7 are inclined downward from the center and that the upper edges of the string-pieces 3 are substantially on aplane with the top of the rails l.

The heating medium passing through the pipe will not only keep the spaces below the plates warm, as before described, but will also heat the plates 7 in such manner as to keep them practically free from snow and ice, and from these plates the rails l will also be suficientlyheated to keep them free from snow or ice. The top plates 7 may be of any desired length, and they may have their adjacent edges overlapped, if desired, to form water-tight joints. By making these plates in com paratively-short lengths it is obvious that desired sections may be easily removed for the placing in or taking out of wires or cables, as desired, without disturbing other portions ot the road.

It is also obvious that my invention maybe readily applied to a railroad already laid, as it is not necessary to dig trenches for conduits, as is generally the requirement in underground-trolley systems.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- l. In an electric railway, bed-plates supported between the rails, supports fortheinner sides ot said plates, the vertical walls of said supports forming walls for a conduit, and a conductor arranged in said conduit, substantially as specified.

2. In au electric railway, string-pieces arranged adjacent the inner sides of the rails, intermediate string-pieces spaced apart to provide a slot between them, the said intermediate string-pieces having openings through their vertical walls, bed-plates removably attached to the string-pieces, and a heatsupply pipe arranged between the intermediate string-pieces, substantially as specified.

In an electric railway, -string-pieces arranged adjacent the inner sides of the railway-rails, intermediate string-pieces having a space between them, metal plates removably secured to the string-pieces, and supporting posts for the plates between the string-pieces, substantially as specified.

e. In an electric railway, string-pieces arranged along the inner sides of the railwayrails, intermediate string-pieces, a heat-conducting pipe arranged between the intermediate string-pieces, bed-plates removably secured to the outer string-pieces and intermediate string-pieces, supporting-plates engaging with the under sides of the bedplates, and posts upon which said supporting-plates rest, substantially as specified.

5. In an electric railway, bed-plates supported upon the cross-ties ot' the railway and between the track-rails, 'forming the upper walls of a conduit in which electric wires or cables may be placed, string-pieces siipport` ing the inner edges of said plates and having openings through their vertical wallsand a pipe for conducting a heating medium arranged between said string-pieces, substantially as specified.

In an electric railway, a pipe serving as a conductor for a heating medium and also as a conductor for electricity, the said pipe being formed in sections, adjacent ends of certain sections being extended downward, a fiexible joint between said down wardly-extended portions, and a bridge-piece rigidly connected to one section and having sliding connection with the other section, substantially as specied.

7. In an electric railway, a pipe serving to conduct a heating medium and also serving to conduct electricity, the said pipe being made in sections, certain of said sections be- IOO joint, and rollers in the conduit on which s-(tid pipe rests, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof l have signed my and a bridge-piece secured to one of the secnaine to this specification in the presence of 5 tions and adapted to slide on the other seetwo subscribing` witnesses.

tion, substantially as specified.

S. In an electric railway, a conduit arranged between the rails, a pipe arranged in said con- Witnesses: duit, seid pipe-being made in sections, certain WM. H. FRASER, ro of the sections being connected by a flexible GEORGE LLOYD.

JAMES D. ROBERTSON. 

